TABUK — A Tabuk University professor was attacked Thursday afternoon by three men who struck him in the leg with a cleaver and fled the scene.

Tabuk police spokesman Maj. Gen. Khalid Al-Ghaban said the 58-year-old Arab professor sustained cuts and contusions in the leg and was rushed to King Khalid Hospital.

The three men caught the professor off guard while he was coming out of the university’s engineering school building.

Although security guards arrived on the scene immediately they could not catch the assailants, who got in their car and sped off.

One of the guards noted down the vehicle’s license plate number and reported it to the police.

Police still do not know why the three men, who are still at large, attacked the professor.